There is growing interest in biomass from perennial grasses (e.g. switchgrass and miscanthus) for bioenergy production because of their high yields, their potential to be grown on low quality land with minimal competition with food crops and, and their ability to achieve significant reduction in...

This paper analyzes the effect of landowner risk preferences and land quality on the optimal mix of vertically integrated production and contracted production of an energy crop in a region characterized by heterogeneity in landowners’ risk preferences and land quality and with riskiness of...

This paper examines the impact of price uncertainty on farmers' adoption decision in site specific crop management using an option value model. It shows that price uncertainty could lead farmers to delay the investment 3 to 25 years as opposed to the net present value rule. Immediate investment...

This study investigates the impacts of technology uncertainties and learning curve on investment decisions in the cellulosic biofuel industry. We find the future success of cellulosic biofuel may depend on the learning by doing effects rather than expected advances in conversion technology. The...

Characteristics of farm level yield and revenue loss that is systemic with yield and revenue loss at the county, state, and U.S. level are examined using farm yields from the Illinois and Kansas farm business management associations. The data begins with 1972. Share of yield and revenue loss...

Recent changes in federal farm programs and contemporary farm program proposals highlight an evolving shift in farm policy from income support to risk management. A mix of price- and revenue-based commodity programs as well as yield- and revenue-based insurance products provide crop producers a...

Although significant research has been done on managing farmers’ financial risk through federal programs such as federal crop insurance, to date, little attention has been paid to the ability of on-farm management’s potential to mitigate agricultural risk. Federal crop insurance could...

Topic Relevance Foliar diseases often reduce grain yields of winter wheat in the southern Great Plains, with some individual year yield losses in excess of 10%. At current prices, the gross value of these losses for the region could exceed a quarter of a billion dollars annually. Historically,...